Instructions for Authors

UTISGAD (International Journal of Commerce, Industry and Entrepreneurship Studies) is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal. To ensure the highest scientific and ethical standards required by international indexing databases (e.g., Web of Science, Scopus, DOAJ), all submissions must strictly adhere to the following comprehensive guidelines.

1. Submission Policy and Double-Blind Peer Review

All manuscripts must be submitted via our online submission system. UTISGAD employs a strict double-blind peer-review process to guarantee objectivity. To maintain absolute anonymity during the review process, authors must submit two separate documents:

• Title Page: A separate document containing all identifying author information, affiliations, and mandatory ethical declarations.
• Main Manuscript: The fully anonymized text designated for peer review.

2. Title Page Requirements

The Title Page must be uploaded separately. To meet international transparency and open science standards, it must include the following elements:

• Article Title: A concise and informative title without non-standard abbreviations.
• Author Details & Affiliations: Full names, primary institutional affiliations (department, university/institution, city, country), and current email addresses of all authors.
• ORCID iD (Mandatory): A verified ORCID iD must be provided for every author contributing to the manuscript.
• Corresponding Author: Clearly indicate the author responsible for correspondence, including their full postal address and phone number.
• Authorship Contribution Statement (CRediT): A clear statement detailing each author’s specific contribution to the research (e.g., Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal Analysis, Data Curation, Writing – Original Draft).
• Data Availability Statement: A declaration specifying where the underlying data can be accessed by other researchers (e.g., “Data available on request,” “Data is stored in a public repository: [Link],” or “Not applicable”).
• Funding and Acknowledgments: Declare any financial support, grants, or institutional funding received for the research. Acknowledge any non-author contributors in this section.
• Conflict of Interest Declaration: A transparent statement disclosing any potential competing financial or personal interests.
• Informed Consent & Ethics Approval: For research involving human or animal subjects, provide the Ethics Committee Approval details (committee name, date, and protocol number). Additionally, include a statement confirming that Informed Consent was obtained from all participants.

3. Ethical Guidelines and Policies

UTISGAD strictly adheres to the core practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

• Originality and Plagiarism: All submissions are screened using iThenticate. The maximum acceptable similarity index is 20% (excluding references and direct quotes). Instances of plagiarism, data fabrication, or redundant/duplicate publications will result in immediate desk rejection.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy: Generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Large Language Models) do not qualify for authorship and cannot be listed as authors. If AI tools were utilized for language editing, translation, or data visualization, the specific tool and its exact application must be transparently declared in the Methodology section and on the Title Page.

4. Manuscript Preparation and Formatting

• Template Compliance: The Main Manuscript must be formatted using the official UTISGAD Article Template.
• Anonymity: Ensure no identifying metadata, names, or project numbers are present in the Main Manuscript document properties or text.
• Abstract and Keywords: Provide a structured abstract (150–300 words) summarizing the objectives, methodology, findings, and conclusion. Include 3-5 keywords and the relevant JEL Classification Codes.
• Structure: Standard empirical papers should follow a logical academic structure (e.g., Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion).
• References: All in-text citations and the reference list must strictly follow the APA 7 format. The use of reference management software (e.g., Mendeley, Zotero) is highly recommended to prevent citation errors.

5. Open Access, Copyright, and Fees

No Article Processing Charges (APC): UTISGAD does not charge any fees for submission, editorial processing, peer review, or publication. All operational costs are fully subsidized.

Open Access Policy: UTISGAD is fully compliant with the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI). All articles are freely accessible online immediately upon publication.

Copyright & Licensing: Articles are published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. Authors retain full copyright of their work while granting the journal the right of first publication.